Alimacani Elementary Student of the Week

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- She's biking at least 30-miles a week, running and staying health all while keeping straight A's in school...and she's only in 4th grade! Michelle Schoene at Alimacani Elementary is our Student of the Week.

Nine-year-old Michelle works hard to be a good student. She also works hard to take care of herself. She's currently training for the Tour de Cure, a 200-kilometer cycling event and she just competed in the 5-k Girls on the Run.

Michelle's 4th grade teacher, Penny Mendez, nominated her for Student of the Week.

"For someone so young to be so dedicated to her physical health and her academic studies; for me, it's unbelievable."

Michelle needs to stay on top of her health. On her 8th birthday, she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

"The first question that popped into my head was, 'Why was it me that got this?' Now that I think about it. It's something really special now."

She's making the most of her situation. At school she wears a special monitor on her side and she checks her blood sugar 8 times a day.

She even wrote a report about her diabetic birthday, which is on display in the hallway outside her classroom. In her report she wrote, 'The next thing I know I'm in my mom's car on the way to the hospital.' It was New Year's Eve the day she was diagnosed and she had looked forward to seeing the fireworks.

She did see fireworks but from the Ronald McDonald House, where she stayed with her father. She ends her report, 'Even if I did get the diabetes thing it won't stop me from being myself.'

She's learned to live with diabetes and make the best of it. Instead of a negative, she thinks of diabetes as a positive. She's eating better, she's healthy and she's doing what she can to help find a cure for diabetes.